GCSE results 2020: Almost half of Cranleigh School grades are 9 or 8

The school said 24 per cent of all grades were a 9 and 48 per cent of all grades were 9 or 8. One hundred per cent of students gained five or more GCSEs at 9 to 4 grade and 79 per cent of all pupils achieved 9-7 in the core subjects of Maths and English.

A spokesman added: “As all examinations were cancelled following the outbreak of COVID-19, teachers were required to make a judgement of the grade they believed a pupil would have most likely achieved under exam conditions. These centre assessed grades (CAGs) were then submitted through the examining bodies’ external standardisation and finally, after much uncertainty the final grade awarded was the school’s centre assessed grade unless the standardisation produced a higher result.”

Deputy head academic, Mr David Boggitt, added: “This year group has shown great resilience and humour in the face of real uncertainty around the health of friends and family. Our common room is a remarkable group of professionals who have pupils’ progress and success at the heart of everything. Together they have handled the situation well, continued to work hard through distance learning and done their very best. I’m delighted that these results reflect that.”

Last year, the first in which 9-1 grading was adopted across all subjects, Cranleigh pupils scooped record results, with almost half of all awarded grades being 8/9 across all subjects.

This year, under difficult circumstances 60 per cent of the cohort achieved seven or more grades 9-7 and 40 per cent of the cohort achieved an outstanding nine or more grades 9-7, the school said. Six pupils achieved straight grade 9s and a further nine pupils achieved all 9-8.

Headmaster, Mr Martin Reader, said: “We are delighted that the examining bodies have realised that the standardisation algorithm was not perfect. We’re thrilled with these results, particularly given that staff and pupils have been working towards significant changes to the exams and the grading schema on top of all the challenges of remote learning and exams preparation. We’d like to offer congratulations to all of our Year 11 pupils who have worked so hard this year.”

The majority of students will remain at Cranleigh to join the Sixth Form and continue their studies to A Level.